September 12, 2023

JDC-Miller MotorSports confirmed today that it will be displaying the team’s Porsche 963 GTP at Rennsport Reunion 7 on September 28 through October 1. The car will be in Garage 11 of the Legends display.

JDC-Miller MotorSports is very proud to be part of the Porsche family and to have been
asked to display the first customer Porsche 963 GTP car.

Rennsport Reunion 7 is on track to be the biggest Porsche gathering ever. More than
80,000 fans attended Rennsport Reunion 6 in 2018 and more are expected to attend
over four days between September 28th and October 1st.

The car returns WeatherTech Laguna Seca where is made its racing debut in May
kicking off its 2023 season with JDC-Miller MotorSports. The team had only received
the car a week prior. After coming home 7th in their first race, the team has scored three
top five finishes, with season high 4th place finishes at Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire
Motorsport Park and a strong 5th at Road America.

Quotes:
John Church, Managing Partner, JDC-Miller MotorSports
“JDC-Miller MotorSports is honored to be asked to participate in this incredible event.
This will be my first Rennsport and I am very much looking forward to being part of it.
When I was young my father had a 911 Targa so Porsche has been in my blood for a
very long time. Being a racing and Porsche fan all my life makes being emersed in all
this history just incredible. We have made so many Porsche friends over the past year
or so and this just takes that to another level. I look forward to meeting many more of
the Porsche family at Rennsport.

This is my first Porsche. I am now a member of the Porsche Club of America and our
local Region, Nord Stern. We have hosted open houses for Nord Stern since 2016 so
the relationship is not new. We also have a strong working relationship with our local
dealers, Porsche Minneapolis and Porsche St. Paul.”

Mike Rockenfeller believes measured approach in first GTP season has boosted results…

August 31, 2023

By Tim Fullbrook for sportscar365.com

Mike Rockenfeller believes that the string of consistent results the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 has achieved is due to a straightforward approach to racing.

The customer Porsche squad joined the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class at the fourth round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, a race that would see them finish seventh despite Rockenfeller and co-driver Tijmen Van der Helm only having a simulator session at Multimatic to learn the 963.

However in the three rounds since, the No. 5 car has finished in the top five, and most notably finished ahead of both factory Porsche Penske Motorsport cars at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Rockenfeller was adamant that the run of performances is not solely the result of improved pace, but a “not rocket science” approach to setting up and running the car.

“The consistency is that yes, we have been lucky, we haven’t had a technical issue yet, but it comes also down to preparation of the team, focusing on the basics,” he told Sportscar365.

“Not drifting too far away too much because we cannot afford to drift away and do crazy stuff because we don’t have the testing and we don’t have the time and the money to go in that direction.

“We really have to focus on our basics that we can influence.

“There is no big magic to be honest. It’s sticking with more-or-less a baseline that we understand. getting familiar with the systems and how to influence the balance of the car by turning the knobs on the wheel.”

“It’s just learning by doing. I tell you if we had ten days of testing, I think we would be really good at just trying stuff.

“On a weekend the issue is that you have the pressure of the race weekend, timing, you cannot drift away too much, you do small steps. That comes back to our ‘lets keep it simple, we know this works, no rocket science.’”

Rockenfeller has competed in three top class regulation periods in the WeatherTech Championship (Prototype, DPi, and GTP) as a third driver, but persists during his first season in a full-time role that the focus has been on prioritizing finishing races over outright results.

“When you’re in the car, how do I take that restart?” he said. “Do I take all the risk? Is it necessary? It comes back to, we cannot afford to crash the car, we cannot afford to not finish by a driver mistake. It might happen, that’s normal.

“Here and there we are profiting from mistakes that others do and that’s part of the game when you are in our boat. You have to count on that a little bit and luckily for us some drivers are making those mistakes. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen for us.

“On track for us that is the crucial part, again focus on the basics, stay on track, make no mistakes. For me that is nothing special. That is part of the game.”

“For example, Road America, for me I felt we were competitive with the cars around us.

“In the race I was taking a bit more risk, but the people around me were taking even more risk which I really don’t understand, like, why do you move again under braking, for example, and early in the race where you want to finish?

“Then I was like now it’s enough, I let off the brake and fought my way through.”

Reunited With ‘Perfect Fit’ Button at Petit Le Mans

JDC-Miller recently confirmed that Jenson Button will complete the three-driver crew for Motul Petit Le Mans – the duo recently sharing duties at the highly popular NASCAR Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry that raced at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Rockenfeller said he trusts in Button’s speed, hoping that the British driver will bring pace, reliability and draw attention to the Minnesota-based operation despite never having driven a GTP car or raced at Road Atlanta before.

“I think it’s a perfect fit for us,” said the 39-year-old German. “ I got to know him much better through the Garage 56, sharing a car for such a long time, not only at the race event but the development phase as well. He is super quick, super competitive.

“I realized it on the first [Garage 56] test already, how much he goes into detail, analyzes stuff, looks into data, how much he wants to be the fastest in a positive way, in the way it needs to be between drivers.

“For me a guy like him with his experience, and his pedigree it’s a dream to have him in the car for Petit.

“His name is mega for JDC-Miller in my opinion, as we are trying to find sponsorship for the future and so on.”

Rockenfeller added that he is looking forward to swapping notes with Button and hearing the 2009 F1 Champion’s perspective on the Porsche 963.

“The Porsche was developed by a group of people and drivers, the majority of it,” he said. “And lets say JDC-Miller or JOTA or Proton, as an example, the customers, you get the car, you drive it, and you realize things that the others already take as normal because they are used to it.

“After a while you just accept stuff and get on with it. I think it’s always important to have a new perspective and definitely the one of Jenson I am looking forward to.

“The way he feels the car, the way he describes stuff especially on tire testing, so for me it’s going to help the team to have him onboard a lot and it can only make us better as a team.”

July 28, 2023 | By Paul Kelly, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

INDYCAR SERIES Veterans Wickens, Hawksworth Out Front in Other Classes

Porsche power was on full display during the first day of an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Open Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as drivers in the mythical German marque turned the two quickest times Friday.

Tijmen van der Helm of the Netherlands was quickest overall and in the premier Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course with a lap of 1 minute, 15.244 seconds in the No. 5 JDC Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 prototype.

SEE: Results

“It feels good but for me, I don’t try to be at the top,” van der Helm said. “I just want a consistent car for the race for the next time. If we can battle with the rest, I think that’s the goal for us.

van der Helm’s quickest lap was recorded during the second of two sessions for the five classes that comprise the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which returns to IMS for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 15-17. The start of the morning session was delayed by about two hours due to heavy rain.

“From the first laps we had a good car, so we were able to try some stuff, and now we know a bit more what works and what doesn’t,” van der Helm said. “I think it worked pretty well. We got a lot of laps done compared to the rest, and I think that’s also what we’re going to try for tomorrow.”

van der Helm and co-driver Mike Rockenfeller of Germany teamed up to complete 43 laps in the first session and 82 in the second, more than any other GTP driving duo. Testing will continue from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at IMS.

The Porsche Penske Motorsports tandem of Matt Campbell of Australia and Felipe Nasr of Brazil was second overall Friday at 1:15.312 in the No. 7 Porsche 963. Campbell led the morning session at 1:15.636.

In the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP3) class, Indianapolis 500 veteran Ben Hanley was quickest at 1:17.416 in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR car. Matthew Bell led the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class at 1:21.401 in the No. 13 AWA machine.

Former INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone driver Jack Hawksworth led the GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) class with a best lap of 1:24.898 in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 co-owned by former INDYCAR SERIES team owners Jimmy Vasser and James Sullivan.

Mikael Grenier paced the GT Daytona (GTD) class at 1:24.916 in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 car.

All five classes will compete simultaneously during the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, with the nearly 10-second gap in lap times between the GTP and GTD cars ensuring plenty of action and drama as quicker prototypes navigate lapped traffic of the production-appearing GTD classes.

In testing for the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, which showcases the latest high-performance production sports cars, coupes, hatchbacks and sedans, the pairing of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss were quickest in both sessions Friday in the No. 56 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 fielded in the Grand Sport (GS) class by Murillo Racing.

Foss turned the top lap of 1:31.865 in the second session. Teammates Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak were second overall, right behind at 1:31.959 in the team’s No. 72 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 machine.

A familiar name to NTT INDYCAR SERIES fans led the Touring Car Racing (TCR) class, as series and Indianapolis 500 veteran Robert Wickens was quickest overall at 1:33.315 in the No. 33 Hyundai Elantra N TCR fielded by Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. The team owned by INDYCAR SERIES veteran and current Andretti Autosport strategist Bryan Herta also was second on the TCR time sheets, with Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi at 1:33.634 in the team’s No. 98 Hyundai Elantra N.

MAY 30, 2023

The No. 5 Porsche Customer Team Looks to Build off a Competitive Showing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

By John Oreovicz for IMSA.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s neither simple nor inexpensive to field a Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The cars are complex and costly – if you can even get one.

As so happens, Porsche has maintained a longtime tradition by offering the same 963 GTP car fielded by its factory team – Porsche Penske Motorsport – to privateers or customer teams. JDC-Miller MotorSports is the first IMSA team to step up to the challenge.

Last June at Watkins Glen International, JDC-Miller managing partners John Church and John Miller announced that they had committed the necessary $2.9 million to acquire their own 963, complete with Porsche factory engineering support. Thus began what turned into an 11-month wait, exacerbated by a worldwide shortage of key electronic sensors and spare parts.

Porsche factory driver Matt Campbell gave the JDC-Miller 963 a brief shakedown at the marque’s Weissach test track in Germany on April 20, and the team finally received its shiny new toy in Chicago six days after that. By the time JDC-Miller rolled up to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca two weeks later, the 963 wore a sporty new yellow wrap and the No. 5 for drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm.

Church admitted he and Miller asked themselves, “What have we gotten into?” more than a few times over the last year or so.

“But I’ve been doing that for years,” Church added with a chuckle. “You think that, and then at the same time, you go, ‘Who else has opportunities like this?’ You have to be thankful for the opportunity. But yeah, lately it’s been a lot of, ‘We could have gone boating.’

“This year is a complete learning year for us, and we’re trying to remind the guys of that,” Church continued. “Don’t panic about the pace, don’t panic about where we’re at. Let’s go out and learn, figure it out and understand, and it’ll come. We’ve been successful in everything we’ve ever done. It’s going to take some time with this one, a little longer than normal.”

Church and the JDC-Miller team had realistic expectations for their debut race, the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N on May 14. They treated the three days on track as a test session, something they simply did not have time for prior to the WeatherTech Raceway weekend.

They could have gone testing and delayed their 2023 competition baptism until the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in late June, but Church saw greater value in putting the operation through the pressure and time constraints of a race weekend.

“It’s a test weekend to get a feel for things,” he said. “I keep telling the guys that we’re here to learn the stuff we don’t know, and there’s a lot of things we don’t know that we don’t know. You don’t know what to expect until you start running the car.

“Now we can go home and analyze what happened at Laguna Seca, and then we really need to go and do a two-day test somewhere and continue learning about the car. The car has a lot of really cool stuff; it’s an awesome car, and we have the goal of upgrading every weekend. It’s just going to take a little while. But that’s part of the fun. Everything is a challenge; you just have to figure it out.”

Driver Lineup Combines Top-Level Experience with Talented Youth

Miller and Church opted for a driver lineup that combines Rockenfeller’s impressive history in a variety of sports cars with the youth and potential of van der Helm, a 19-year-old Dutchman who finished fourth in class in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) shared with rookie Formula 1 driver Nyck de Vries.

Rockenfeller believes his role is to “calm things down” and use his vast experience to help JDC-Miller get the best out of the most complex car it has ever fielded.

The team has an impressive record of punching over its weight in WeatherTech Championship competition, scoring an overall victory at Watkins Glen in 2018 with its LMP2 over all the cars in the top Prototype class which also featured Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars. JDC-Miller ran a customer Cadillac DPi for the last four years, claiming victory in the 2021 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 10 other podium finishes.

“It’s a big challenge to learn the car and know the team,” said Rockenfeller. “I think I’ve seen a lot, and there’s a lot of experience in the team. That’s what you need, especially when you have no testing, no preparation. We are maybe a little bit the underdog, but I think not so bad.

“At the end of the day, it’s still a car with four wheels, two pedals and a steering wheel,” he added. “We just need to understand it and get a routine.”

Although the results of JDC-Miller’s WeatherTech Raceway weekend don’t look spectacular on paper, the team came away extremely happy. As expected, van der Helm and the No. 5 car qualified ninth for last in class, 2.2 seconds off the pole-winning time set by Campbell in the No. 7 Porsche. But Rockenfeller was impressed, saying his young co-driver “did a damn good job” and “has great potential.”

“A bit nervous, I didn’t know what to expect,” van der Helm noted. “I’ve never driven Laguna Seca, and a new car.

“Of course, it’s big – this is the highest (level) car that I ever drove,” he added. “Of course, more buttons, more everything, a different type of clutch, but I think I will enjoy it a lot.”

Every goal was also achieved in the race, as van der Helm and Rockenfeller brought the JDC-Miller 963 to the finish on the lead lap and without a scratch in seventh place, besting one of the BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8s and the troubled pole-qualifying Porsche. Even more impressive, Rockenfeller’s best race lap was just 0.416 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche, Nick Tandy in the factory No. 6.

The team’s performance impressed Rockenfeller, whose vast resume includes stints with factory racing programs for Porsche, Audi and Corvette and a pair of victories at Le Mans. The 39-year-old German, who has also co-driven to wins at Sebring and the Rolex 24 At Daytona, is delighted to be back in IMSA fulltime.

“It was very tricky to find my way back,” he said. “I’m so thankful to John and his team to give me the trust and the opportunity to come back to IMSA. I’m very happy to be involved, and hopefully throughout the year, we can show the potential of this car.”